Destiny
by Tinuviel Undomiel
Summary: Jan's thoughts during the Dark Trooper project, a companion to the Rise and Fall.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Lucas owns everything that carries a Star Wars label, Shanesnest owns the Rise and Fall. 1,000 thankyous to him for letting me write this.

A/N: No worries, this is not a retaliation, merely a companion to the Rise and Fall. This stoary is The Rise in Fall in Jan's words, her thoughts and feelings throughout the Dark Trooper project. I sincerley hoipe you like this.

* * *

Destiny

The Beginning

I never thought that anything like this would ever happen. It's not like I had any control over it. Even as I'm writing this I'm still trying to work everything out in my mind. Mon Mothma says that they want to know my story. Why anyone would want to hear my side of this adventure seems strange to me. Someone else did much more than I did. Someone very special to me.

My father always told me that everything has a purpose that you need to build your own future. I always thought that the Force was a fantasy. A nice bedtime story, but still a fairy tale. I control my fate. But what if your future is set? What if you have a destiny you can't stop?

I suppose I need to stop babbling and start at the beginning, but what is the beginning? I guess it began when I received my orders from Mon Mothma.

My name is Jan Ors, and I'm an operative for the Rebel Alliance. Ever since I was a child my parents have warned me against the Empire. I grew up among some of the highest Rebellion leaders. I've pretty much known Mon Mothma since I was in diapers, but I don't think we have to go into that much detail.

So, Mon Mothma called me to her office to discuss an assignment she had for me.

"Jan," She began, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to transfer you to another base."

Let's just say that I was less than thrilled. But I took it really well.

"What! But I haven't done anything!"

Okay maybe not.

"This is not because you have done anything wrong," Mon Mothma assured me, "This base is located near the Imperial world Carida, and I need someone to be in charge of it until I can find a suitable commander."

"So you want me to run the place for a while?" I asked, I guess it didn't sound too bad.

"Basically," Mon Mothma said, "As soon as I can find a replacement you will be sent back here."

I nodded, "Alright, I'll head out tomorrow."

Before I left she gave me the schematics on it, and the list of officers. Can you believe that she had the thing set up on an asteroid? I mean how dangerous is that? Needless to say, I was about as happy as a Rancor victim.

* * *

Every time I'm down I head over to the bar. No it's not like you think. I'm not some bumbling drunk, in fact I drink very little while there. An old friend of my family, Caston Droum, works at the bar there.

Caston has been with the Rebellion practically since it began. He has been on more missions than I could remember. He's a fellow Alderaanian, like me, but he's says he's seen enough action. Now he likes to help the Alliance by providing entertainment. Besides, he makes a mean Juri Juice.

The old man's withered face smiled at me when he saw me, "Hey Jan."

I gave him a small smile back, "Hey Caston." I slumped down on a stool, and ordered a Corellian Ale.

"Rough day?" Caston asked as he set the glass in front of me.

"Yeah," I took a long swig.

"Tell me."

I filled him in on the unwanted assignment. Caston listened to my complaints with a serious nature before he finally talked.

"Listen, maybe this won't be as bad as you think."

"I'm stuck on an asteroid a hop, skip and a jump away from the Empire, sounds like paradise."

"Come on," Caston said, "You'll be the head of the base, and it's only temporary, so it won't be forever."

"I know," I sighed, "Maybe it won't be so bad. And anyways, it's not like it will be life changing or anything."

Life changing? What a joke! Boy was I ever wrong.

* * *

A/N: So, what'd you think for a prologue? 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Nope, I won abesolutley nothing.

A/N: Jan's adventure begins here, I hope you, especially shanesnest, enjoy this.

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* * *

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**Rebel Base outside of Carida**

**3/8/3054**

"Commander we are under attack!"

Those five dreaded words were said to me by Sergeant Dale after I had been there for two months. As much as I had anticipated an attack, I never wished for one.

"How many?" I asked as I followed Dale from my quarters to the Command Center.

"Just one squad, but their weapons are more advanced, and they had the element of surprise."

"What about the sentries?" I asked, "Weren't they on duty?"

"They caught us at as the guards changed shifts."

"Great," I said dryly. I could already hear the blaster fire from outside.

"Inform the men to fight at all costs," I said.

"Commander they are highly trained soldiers, they will be at the command center within minutes," Dale said with a grave face.

"I'm aware of that Sergeant, but we must hold them off as long as we can."

A large clang vibrated in the air, and more fire, this time louder, could be heard.

"They've entered the base," I said.

"It won't be long now," Sergeant Dale said. We were already in the Command Center, and I could see the fear on the faces of everyone in the room. Everyone had a hand on their weapon, but I knew that it would be a useless attempt.

"Whoever is in command of that squad must be a genius," Dale said.

I turned my head sharply and glared at him, "Thank you for complimenting the enemy. You do understand that Imperial procedure is to leave no survivors? Perhaps if you tell him what you just said, he'll give the courtesy of being the last to die."

Much to my relief, Dale kept his mouth shut after that.

Soon the blaster fire was right outside the door, and within seconds the door lay on the floor.

Several Stormtroopers entered the room, their blaster rifles fixed on us.

"Drop your weapons," One of them ordered, "Hands up."

We could do nothing but comply. The troopers looked around the room, searching for taps, or hidden bombs. We had no choice but to surrender, but I knew that that would do no good.

"Cadet Leader?" one of the troopers asked the first trooper, "Should we kill the prisoners now?"

"No," He said simply. I frowned, what was he doing?

The leader then removed his helmet, and cleared the sweat from his eyes. He seemed young, possibly a year or so older than me. His eyes caught mine and he stared at me for a few seconds.

"You," He pointed at me, "Identify this room."

Gee, what a great honor. Couldn't they guess what it was?

"What's it look like?" I said dryly, "It's the Command Center."

The trooper merely nodded at my comment, and then turned back to his fellow comrades, "We will take these Rebels as prisoners."

Prisoners? "You mean you're not going to kill us?" a man behind me asked.

"No."

"Well what do we have here?" I said, "An Imperial with a heart?"

"Watch how you speak to him," A trooper warned. But the leader was staring at me again, I stared back.

Who was this man? He was...intriguing.

_Whoa Jan_, I warned myself, _however unusual he is, he's still the enemy_.

For some reason, I couldn't help but look at him. I saw that he had brown eyes, and that his hair was dark and wet from sweat. He was kind of cute. Wait a minute, I couldn't say he was cute, he was an Imperial! But who was he?

I was about to ask him, when a shot hit the wall near the leader's head. I saw a small team of our men firing at the troopers. The Imperial's fired back, while we hit the floor to avoid getting hit. I saw the Cadet leader get shot in the chest.

A cry of shock and fear came up from my throat, but I smothered it before I said a word. I couldn't fret over him, besides the shot was repelled by his armor, he was unconscious but alive.

"Commander," Sergeant Dale said, "This is our chance to escape."

I nodded and was about to followed. I looked back and stared at the fallen leader. I knew that I wouldn't forget him, and I that I would probably always wonder who he was. I had a strange feeling to help him, but I forced myself to turn away and run away from the battle.

_Whoever he was_, I said to myself, _you'll never see him again. _

It was an unusual encounter, but it was over. Soon everything would be back to normal.

Little did I know that this was only the beginning.

* * *

_**New Hope**_

**4/12/3054**

A month after I escaped from the Imperial attack, I found myself back in Mon Mothma's office. I seated myself, and patiently waited for the absent leader.

She came in looking punctual as usual, and smiled when she saw me, "Jan, it has been awhile, things have been rather busy of late."

She was right, rumor had it that the Senate was slowly disappearing, and a lot of systems were looking skeptically at the Emperor. While this was good for the Rebellion, Mon Mothma was still a Senator, even if she secretly supported the Alliance.

"I understand," I said," May I ask why I'm here?"

"Oh yes, I need you to go to Sulon."

"Okay and what's on Sulon?" I asked.

"We have lost contact with one of our small Rebel teams led by Morgan Katarn," Mon Mothma explained, "I need to you to take Roscoe and Waller to investigate what happened."

"Is that all?" I asked, this was a pretty small mission.

She nodded," Report to me what you find, and good luck."

* * *

**Sulon**

**4/14/3054**

Roscoe and Waller are good guys, but after being stuck with them for two days, I was glad to get to Sulon.

Sulon was different from Alderaan, a lot different. For miles you could nothing but farms, oh yeah and an Imperial outpost. Sulon is an Imperial world; Morgan Katarn must have risked a lot to form a small Rebel team.

We were at the spaceport, asking a few people about the farms here, and stuff, trying to blend in. Well, that is until Waller screwed it up. I was asking this old woman about her vegetables when he stepped right in.

"Do you know a Morgan Katarn?" He asked. I about fell over.

The old woman suddenly grew skittish, "No, no Katarn," He eyes darted around searching for something.

"Ma'am if there is anything you know, could you please share," I said, my voice kind to her while I glared at Waller.

"I know nothing," She said, "You kids, leave my stall now," She swatted us away.

"Let's go, Waller," I crunched down hard on his shoulder as I led him away.

After we were out of earshot I turned on him, "What the hell were you thinking!"

"I was just trying to figure out what happened."

"Yeah, well don't give away our intentions," I said, "You can't go around asking for Morgan Katarn, especially since we lost contact with him."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I mean, that worst case scenario, he is one of those," I pointed to the decor of the spaceport. Waller turned pale at what he saw.

On the wall of the entrance was severed heads. Most of the skin had been pecked off, so mainly grinning skulls with rotting flesh was all that remained.

"You see my point?" I asked.

"What...why?" He stuttered still staring at the heads.

"We don't know why."

Waller and I turned to see a young woman carrying a basket of fruit.

"Hello," I said, "Who are you?"

"What is more important is who you are," She said, "You are a part of the Alliance."

"Uh oh," I said under my breath. We stood there stunned, unsure of what to do.

"Please come with me," She said.

Waller took a step towards, her, but I put a hand in front of him to stop him, "Why should we?"

"You want to learn what happened to Morgan Katarn don't you?"

I nodded, "We'll trust you."

"Good," She said.

"Jan Ors to _Truly Sorry_, come in." I said as we followed the woman.

"Truly Sorry here, what is the situation?" Roscoe asked through the comlink.

"We are following a lead outside of the spaceport; we should be back in a few hours."

"Got it, _Sorry_ out."

The woman's name was Kare Defer, and she lived on a neighboring farm of the Katarn homestead.

"Can you tell us what happened?" I asked, "Please."

"No, she said, "but perhaps my father can."

Inside the farm I could see that the home was well kept, with a swept floor, and lovely decorations, but it seemed deserted.

"Where is your father?" I asked.

"In here," She opened the door to a room, and I regretted what I had asked.

The room was a large bedroom, and in the bed was a man who was a ghastly color. A middle aged woman knelt by the man, applying salve to an ugly wound in his side.

The woman glanced up when we entered, "Kare I said no guests."

"Its alright mother," Kare said, "These people are from the Rebellion."

"Well I don't think..."

"Maneth," The man on the bed groaned, "Let them come."

I hesitated before walking up to the man.

"My name," He coughed, "is Rayf. Are you here for Morgan?"

"Yes," I nodded, "Can you please tell me where he is, or what happened to him."

"He's...dead," Rayf said between coughs, "Imperial...forces found us and...they killed...slaughtered. I escaped...wounded."

I nodded, "I understand, sir."

"Kare," He called to his daughter, "Give me...that disk."

Kare took a holodisk from a small table and handed it to her father.

"I...taped the massacre," He held out the disk to me, "Give this...Kyle."

"What?" I asked.

"Kyle," Rayf rasped, "he must...know."

"Who is this Kyle?" I asked.

Rayf moaned and coughed. His body shuddered, and then lay still. I stared into those glassy eyes, now lifeless.

"Rayf?" Maneth called, "Rayf no!"

Tears filled my eyes as I listened to her sobs. My eyes turned to the disk in my hand, a disk that didn't belong to me.

* * *

Waller and I walked back to the spaceport by ourselves. We didn't say a word the entire time. When we got back to the ship, Waller informed Roscoe on what happened, while I sat myself into the pilot's chair. I flipped the disk over and over in my hands watching as it reflected the lights of the cockpit.

_"Give this...Kyle...he must...know." _

"So what are you going to do?" Roscoe asked behind me.

I sighed, "I don't know."

"You could just...keep it, or get rid of it," Waller suggested.

I shook my head, "No, Rayf wanted me to give this to someone, Kyle, and it seemed important."

"So you're going to comb the galaxy for this Kyle?" Roscoe asked.

"I don't know," I said, "I guess I'll..."

The _Truly Sorry_ suddenly shook as blaster fire struck it.

"What the...?" Roscoe trailed off as we peered through the cockpit's windows. Stormtroopers were firing at the ship.

"Come out of the ship immediately, you are to be taken for questioning."

"Great job, Waller, someone talked," I said, "Fire up the controls we need to get out of here!"

"Hey, why is this my fault!" Waller asked.

"You're the one who blabbed about our mission," I pointed out, "We have to go now!"

I fired up the engines, the troopers protested, "Shut down your engines, and leave the ship immediately."

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea," I rolled my eyes.

A rain of blaster fire struck the ship again, "We're losing shields!" Roscoe called.

"Alright, boys, we're taking off!" I cleared the landing pad as fast as I could.

As we cleared atmosphere, we ran into more trouble, "Stardestroyer!"

I cursed, and Roscoe started to punch in coordinates, "Six minutes until lightspeed."

"I doubt we have six seconds, they're firing at us!"

I twisted the ship to avoid they're fire, but that didn't really help. A blast hit the _Truly Sorry _hard, and rattled us in our seats.

"Two more minutes until lightspeed," I said, "We gotta hold on for that long."

"Is there anything we can do?" Waller asked.

"I'm going to fire a torpedo at them," I said.

"What!"

"Are you crazy?" Roscoe asked.

"With luck they will try and disengage it, or if it hits, it may do some damage, giving us those two minutes."

"Fire!" Roscoe called to Waller.

"Torpedo engaged," Waller called, "Let's hope this works."

"One minute till lightspeed."

We held our breaths, until the stars outside the cockpit turned into stripes in an inky blackness, and with a lurch we were gone.

* * *

"How long until we get to the _New Hope_?" I asked Roscoe after we were safe in lightspeed.

"Uh, Jan, we're not going to the _New Hope_."

"What do you mean we're not going to the New Hope?" I asked.

"Well, you see we have a Hyperdrive leak, and I had to punch in the nearest planet far enough from Sulon to avoid suspicion," Roscoe explained.

"Really," I said, "and what planet would that be?"

"Uh," Roscoe looked at Waller for help, "Carida."

"What!"

"We don't have a choice."

"Carida!" I shouted, "But that is an Imperial world! We'll be dead before we land!"

"Jan, if we don't go to Carida, we'll be dead before we are half way to the _New Hope_."

"So we have no other options," I said. Roscoe shook his head, "Then I guess we'll have to take the chance."

* * *

_**Queen of the Empire**_

**4/15/3045**

It turns out that we didn't land on Carida; instead we were given permission to land on the Stardestroyer _Queen of the Empire_. Of course we had to tell them that we got our injuries from a run in with a Rebel Cruiser, but it worked.

While Roscoe and Waller went over the damage, I decided to check out the holodisk. It kinda felt wrong to watch it, I mean it wasn't really mine, but I needed to see what was on it.

The tape was gruesome. I watched as Imperials dressed up as Rebels massacred the small farm town. The worst part was seeing the severed heads, and watching as survivors were carried off into slavery. I was in tears.

"Hey," Roscoe said, "What's going on?"

I quickly wiped my cheeks, "Nothing, I need some air."

"We're on a ship, you can't walk outside."

"Well I need to go," I said.

I walked around the ship until I heard the sounds of some sort of party. I thought what the heck; maybe I would get a kick out of seeing Imperials drunk.

The banquet room was huge and packed with people. Everyone was chatting about this victory on this planet, or this great plan the Emperor had set into motion. After I wandered around the large crowd, I decided that nothing interesting was happening.

As I walked back to the ship, my mind was on finding this Kyle guy. Roscoe was right, how was I going to find him? I could search for years, and never find him. Why did Rayf want me to give this to him? How important could it be?

I stopped suddenly when I heard the footsteps behind me. Someone was following me.

"Hey Roscoe, I've got a dog tailing me," I said into my comlink.

"So give him a bone, or tell him to scat, I can't do anything about it."

"Not a real dog you idiot, I meant an Imperial."

"Oh, so shoot him."

"Yeah that's great," I said, "Then I can alert the whole ship and we can get ourselves killed."

"Alright I have a better idea," Roscoe said, "bring him to the hangar, Waller and me will tackle him there."

"Much better," I said.

Sure enough as soon as I walked through the hangar door, the Imperial followed behind me. Roscoe and Waller stepped in front of him with his blasters drawn.

"Alright we got you Imperial scum," Waller said.

"So who are," I trailed off when I saw him, "You!"

It was that Cadet leader I had seen at the base. He was no longer in the Stormtrooper armor, but was dressed in a clean cut Imperial officer uniform with a little medal pinned on his chest.

"I know you," I said, "You're that Stormtrooper, the one that actually thought before he fired."

"Huh?" Waller and Roscoe said at the same time.

"It's a long story," I said.

I turned back the officer; he was staring back at me, "Well I know you have a voice, so why don't you say something, like your name."

He stared at me, like he did a month ago, "I'm Lieutenant Kyle Katarn."

_"Give this...Kyle...he must...know."_

I was stunned, "Kyle?" I whispered.

He nodded, "Yes that's my name."

"Katarn," I said again, not believing this.

Now he was looking at me like I was crazy, "Yeah I just said that."

"Sorry," I said, "Um, uh, why were you following me?"

"I wanted revenge."

"Revenge for what?" I asked, "I never did anything to you."

"Well your Rebellion did," Kyle said.

"Fine then, what did the Rebellion do to you?"

"They killed my father," Kyle said, his voice full of grief.

My suspicions went up full throttle, "Was your father Morgan Katarn?"

He nodded, "How did you know?" He asked surprised.

"My companions and I just left Sulon," I said.

"What were you doing there?"

Roscoe and Waller kept shooting me looks that said that they wanted to know what was going on, I ignored them.

"I met this guy, Rayf," I said, "I think he wanted me to give this to you." I handed him the holodisk. He stared at it with a frown.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Jan Ors," I said, "and I'm a part of the Rebel Alliance."

"I sorta figured that out already," Kyle said, he held up the disk, "What is this."

"The truth," I said, "You really need to watch it."

* * *

I brought him aboard the _Truly Sorry_ so he could view the tape. Roscoe and Waller kept a skeptical eye on him, but I had a feeling that he wasn't going to do anything. Kyle was riveted to the screen, and looking at it with a sense of disbelief and horror. I knew that he could see that the "Rebels" were really Imperials. But he hadn't seen anything yet.

"Brace yourself," I said, "You're not going to like what you see next."

The severed heads came into view; the disk was centered on one head. Even though the head was distorted, I could see the similarities the Kyle shared with him. I knew it was Morgan.

Kyle leapt to his feet, knocking the chair over. He ripped the medal from his chest and tossed it to the floor.

"Kyle!" I called as he stormed away. He pretended that he didn't hear me.

"Whoa," Waller said, "He seemed upset."

"Yeah," Roscoe agreed, "So what do we do?"

"Let's get this rust bucket back in condition," I said, "Roscoe, you and Waller work on the shields, I take the hyperdrive."

I climbed on top of the _Truly Sorry_, and attempted to work on the hyperdrive, but I couldn't help but think about Kyle Katarn. I'll never forget the look on his face when he saw his father's face. I'd seen grief before, but for some reason I really sympathized for him.

"I shouldn't have shown it to him," I muttered to myself, "I mean what did I expect for him to jump up and change his heart? What did it mean to tear off that medal and throw it to the floor?"

I unscrewed the hyperdrive motivator with only half my mind on the job. I got a wake up call when the motivator started to fall to the floor. I grabbed at it, but the stupid thing weighed a ton! My grip was starting to slip, and if some miracle didn't happen I was going to fall too.

"Need some help?" Someone below asked.

"What...makes...you think...that?" I commented through gritted teeth.

The person chuckled but I felt the strain ease as they helped me lower it to the ground. I climbed down from the ship, and walked towards whoever it was examining the motivator,

"Thank you so much I..." I stopped when I saw that it was Kyle.

He was out of his uniform now, and dressed in normal shirt and pants.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Actually I was looking for you."

I moved towards to motivator, "Well as you can see I'm busy."  
He crouched down next to me, "Maybe I can help, I'm good with machines."

"Listen, kid, I don't..."

"Consider it my way of apologizing for coming after you earlier," I shook my head and looked down, "Please," he begged.

I was about to say no, but something in his eyes seemed so sincere, and they made me look down again, and my cheeks go hot.

"Alright," I said, "See what you can do with this motivator. It started making a knocking sound when we came out of hyperspace."

Something fluttered inside when he smiled at me, "You got it," he said.

I walked a few feet of way to fix the scanner array. Every now and then I would glance over to see what he was doing. He seemed intent on his job, and never noticed my gaze. He had no weapons, so I knew his intent was not to kill, but I still couldn't figure out why he was there. I knew that the real reason was not an apology.

Within in an hour he was finished. I walked over and inspected it, searching for hidden traps, but I didn't find any. I wasn't surprised. I didn't just check for tampering; I also saw that he was with out a doubt an expert mechanic. I was certain that the motivator would work like a dream.

"Not bad," I said, "How about you take a look at that scanner array too." I had been working on that thing for as long as he had on the motivator, but the demonic piece of junk refused to work.

"Sure," He said, "but first there is something I have to ask you."

_Here it comes_; I thought and placed a hand on my blaster. Maybe I had been wrong, he was still an Imperial.

"I'm not sure how to say this," His eyes cast down to the ground, "But..."

As he struggled to say something, I dropped my hand from my blaster. I knew he wasn't going to betray me...I mean us...I mean the Rebellion or something.

"Well?" I said getting tired of waiting.

He looked back into my eyes, and I felt that same feeling again, "I...I want to come with you when you leave this ship."

"What!" I was taken aback. I expected a favor, a betrayal, a marriage proposal, or something. Not an invitation to leave with us.

"I can't be part of the Empire anymore." Kyle said, his face twisting in anger and grief. "If they can do what they did to my father, then who knows what else they might do?"

As much as my instincts said he was being truthful, I had seen more than a few backstabs in my time, "Why should I trust you? What do you hope to accomplish by coming with me?"

I saw the grief fade, and complete anger cloud his eyes. I was almost afraid, "I want to get revenge on those who killed my father."

I thought about what he had just said. I remembered my father, still on Alderaan, and remembered how close I was to him. If he had been murdered, no doubt I would have sought revenge as well. I wasn't really allowed to recruit people, but this was different. Kyle may not be completely trustworthy yet, but he probably knew a lot of valuable information. Stuff the Rebellion needed.

Kyle and I heard the hanger bay door slide open. Roscoe and Waller had left before Kyle came to scout out the ship and see what they could learn. Now my companions were running into the hangar bay.

"Roscoe, what's going on?" I asked.

"Word is somebody tipped off Governor Donar about us. There's a squad of security guards headed this way."

I cursed under my breath. I really didn't need or want this right now, "Okay, we need to get out of here fast. And we've got a passenger. Roscoe, get up to the cockpit and get the engines fired up. Waller, get to the gun turret and be ready for anything."

Neither man moved, "What?"

"You mentioned a passenger," Roscoe said.

"Yes, I said, "He's coming with us. I'll explain on board."

"Okay," Waller said, "but where is he?"

"What do you mean?" I was getting mad and frustrated, "He's right..."

I looked behind me, and saw that indeed Kyle Katarn had gone MIA. That is for about two seconds, it became clear as to where he was when the ship's engines turned on.

"Blast!" I yelled, "He's in the ship, Waller get to the gun turret, Roscoe come with me."

As we ran up the ramp, I was genuinely regretting letting him stay. No doubt he was planning on abandoning us on the Stardestroyer, while he left to who knows where.

"Okay, Katarn," I said when I say him sitting in the pilot's chair. _My_ _chair_. "Put your hands up and turn around."

Kyle only glanced over his shoulder at the muzzle of my gun, and then turned around.

"I mean it!" I warned, "Don't make me shoot you."

"There's no time!" he exclaimed. I already knew that, but I wasn't going to be betrayed again.

I tightened my grip on the trigger, "Last chance."

This time he spun around to face us, "Look, I heard what Roscoe said and figured you'd need some help getting this thing in the air." He reached back for a final control, "There!"

Now I was really worried, "Hands up!" Roscoe growled.

"C'mon!" said Kyle, exasperated, "those guards will be here any moment!"

"Check out what he did," I ordered Roscoe, "I've got him covered."

Kyle looked frustrated, but he got up and allowed Roscoe to check out the controls.

"Engines are powered up, "he reported, "shields are on standby and the turret is armed." He looked at me surprised, "We're ready to go."

I stared at Kyle shocked, and was about to say something when the ship jolted, knocking us all to the floor, me practically in Katarn's lap, a place I _really_ didn't want to be.

"What the..?"

"We've got company, at least a dozen guards!"

The _Truly Sorry _gave another jolt, "Let's get out of here!" I yelled.

Roscoe quickly go into a seat and punched the controls, while sat down in the pilot's chair. "I've got us airborne," He said, "But we need to get those doors open."

"This is _Truly Sorry_ to hangar control requesting emergency departure," I said into the comlink with one eye on Kyle.

The speaker crackled and the voice of the hangar control officer came through. "Permission denied, _Truly Sorry_. You are ordered to shut down your engines and land. By order of Governor Dal Donar, you are under arrest for suspicion of treason."

"Well so much for the easy way," I mumbled, I glanced over at Kyle, "What about ramming the doors?"

"Sure, as long you don't mind seeing what sudden vacuum exposure will do to us, not to mention the rest of the bay."

Okay so that option was out. I gave a frustrated sigh and looked out the cockpit window. That was when it hit me, "Waller," I called into the comm, "target one of the ships to our port side and open fire."

Waller obeyed, and fired at a small shuttle nearby. It exploded in a small show of flying debris.

Now this was going to be fun, I switched back to Hanger Control, "You have thirty seconds to get those doors open. Otherwise, we'll keep blasting ships until we hole this bay."

I smiled when the Hanger announced, "Attention! Attention! This bay is decompressing in thirty seconds! Repeat decompression in thirty seconds! Clear the bay!"

The squads backed out of the bay when they heard the warning, and the doors opened. We flew the _Truly Sorry_ out of the hangar bay as fast as our engines could take us.

"Status?" I asked.

"We're 50,000 klicks away from the _Queen_ and increasing. Computer is calculating the hyperspace jump."

"How soon?"

"Twelve minutes," Roscoe replied.

"Waller, any pursuit?"

"Negative," Waller said, "Wait, cancel that. I'm detecting a transmission. The _Queen_ is radioing for assistance." He paused a moment more. "We'd better be gone quick. The Star Destroyer _Vengeance_ has signaled back that it's on the way and expected to arrive in less than five minutes!"

"How long till we jump?" I hated to ask.

Roscoe shook his head, "Ten minutes."

I struck to panel so hard it hurt my fist. It was hopeless.

"Can't we go faster?" Kyle asked from behind me.

"Not if you wanna get out and push, boy," Roscoe said.

"What if you cut power to everything except emergency systems and pour it all into the engines."

"What?" Roscoe glared at him, "Then we lose weapons and shields."

Kyle glared back. "What good are they going to be against a Star Destroyer?"

They both looked at me like I knew all the answers.

"It'll work," Kyle assured me.

I ran a hand over my face, "It better, "I sighed, "Do it," I told Roscoe.

Roscoe looked like he thought I was crazy, and shot Kyle a look, but he complied. The lights dimmed a little as most of the power was channeled to the hyperdrive. The _Truly Sorry _lurched and we all nearly hit the panel.

"Time!" I called.

"Hyperspace in one minute!"

"Too late," Waller said.

In front of us, the _Vengeance _appeared in front of us, dwarfing the _Truly Sorry_.

The comm crackled. "This is Star Destroyer _Vengeance_ to unidentified ship. Shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded."

"How long?" I asked Roscoe.

"Thirty seconds."

"We've got incoming TIE fighters!" Waller yelled.

The _Truly Sorry_ shook violently as laser fire struck the unprotected hull. The controls in front of Roscoe exploded in a shower of sparks. He tumbled from his seat and crashed to the deck.

"Roscoe," I cried. From above us we heard Waller cry as the turret took a hit. Everything was falling apart.

"This is the _Vengeance_ to unidentified ship. You cannot run and we have you outgunned. Make it easy on yourself and surrender."

I looked at Kyle, his eyes looked apologetic, "I'm sorry," I said.

"Well, we tried," he returned.

Then an alarm blared in front of us, and I looked back at Kyle with hope. The hyperspace warning!

I grabbed the twin levers and pulled as far as we could. With a whine the hyperdrive activated, and the stars streamed in front of us, and then we were gone.

* * *

A/N: So what did everybody think about this loooong chapter? Was it a good break from Alessa, Galder and Blaze? Let me know. 


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